Chaper 11

Without thinking, Dawnpaw lurched at Onestar, claws unsheathed. Onestar neatly stepped aside and let her crash to the ground. Dawnpaw turned and scraped her claws along his muzzle, satisfaction filling her as her claws met flesh. "Stop!" Graystripe's meow echoed around the clearing. "Don't kill Onestar; then we'll be as bad as they are!"

"WindClan, retreat!" Onestar yowled, blood dripping from the scratch on his muzzle.

Howls of protest came from the WindClan warriors, but they retreated into the bushes. Dawnpaw stared at Firestar, who had a huge bloody gash on his chest that was spewing out blood and puss, blood trickling from a gash above her eye. She ran over to him, blinking back her salty tears and started licking the blood away.

"Jayfeather, Skypaw, come quick!" she yowled in misery. But to her great dismay, only Jayfeather emerged. He carried a herb she didn't recognize.

"What's happening? You can come out now!" He glanced at a bush, and a sleek, well fed WindClan cat jumped out of the bushes.

"How did you know I was here? You're blind, you piece of mouse-dung!"
"I'm not as blind as you think!" Jayfeather retorted coolly.

The WindClan she-cat hissed threateningly then turned and sped after her clanmates into the bushes.

Dawnpaw stared at Jayfeather, mouth open in alarm and distress. Hadn't he heard or sensed it or whatever blind cats could do, that Firestar was dangerously injured?

"Jayfeather, Firestar's hurt! I think he lost a life!" Dawnpaw wailed in agony, with tears plummeting to the ground. "Do something, quick!"

Jayfeather stared at Dawnpaw in slight alarm.

"He's going to be okay, there's no need to act like a kit over him," he growled dismissively.

"What a rude cat," Dawnpaw muttered darkly under her breath.

Dawnpaw entered the half-destroyed camp and heard a yowl of pure pain.

"Shallowpelt, go and get one of the medicine cats and then go to the medicine den!" Sandstorm ordered with a worried glint in her eyes. Dawnpaw saw Shallowpelt limp towards the hawthorn bush where the medicine cats were sheltering.

"Take him back to the den," Jayfeather ordered. Skypaw's tail drooped as she guided the injured warrior back into the medicine den- it was obvious to Dawnpaw that her sister wanted to stay in the clearing to find out what would happen next. Before Dawnpaw could feel any sympathy towards Skypaw, a WindClan warrior who was hiding in the thorn barrier, probably trying to spy on ThunderClan, was on top of her. She clawed the warrior with all the strength of TigerClan and then sprang back into the battle, ready to take on any challenge StarClan would throw at her.

"Get out of here," Dustpelt hissed threateningly at the WindClan warrior. "Come on Thornclaw, Stonefoot, let's chase him off."

Dawnpaw watched Thornclaw and her father follow Dustpelt into the distance chasing the WindClan cat off their territory.

Skypaw scented the medicine store anxiously trying desperately to remember what herb helped cats breathe. Shallowpelt was hardly breathing; each breath he took was short and sharp. The new warrior lay in a nest made of moss, groaning and wailing with pain.

"Skypaw, I'm in pain," he was moaning. "Help me."

If Jayfeather was here, he would tell Shallowpelt to shut up and stop acting like a kit. But Skypaw could understand how much pain Shallowpelt must be in so she soothed, "Hush, I'm finding the herbs that will help you."

With a pang of realization she remembered that juniper berries helped breathing. Skypaw gave a quick sniff and found the sweet scent of the berries. She grabbed a pawful and nudged them toward Shallowpelt.

"These will help you breathe," Skypaw told him. She scented the air and the sour smell of poppy seeds reached her scent glands and, remembering that they helped cats sleep and dulled the pain, also pushed them towards his scent and added, "And these will make you sleep and help with the pain."

As she said these words, Skypaw shivered and thought, What if he dies?